FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 1

Science Fictional Writing: Contents page Your completed inquiry booklet should contain these pages in this order. Find them/ print them off and staple

them together, with this page on the front, to hand in. Don’t forget to put your name on this page!

1. Identifying questions to guide my investigation (if you have a copy of this – don’t worry if you don’t)

2. Your investigative journal pages If you are printing these out, be careful NOT to print any extra ‘blank’ journal pages after the ones you filled in!

3. Constructing my toolkit

4. Constructing my world

5. First draft of your opening (if you remembered to save one)

6. Redrafting: using the literary techniques I have learnt this term in my writing

7. Second draft of your opening

8. Reflection on the unit

Name: Class:

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 2

Identifying questions to guide my investigation

I already know I wonder

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 3

1. Going places: How technological developments in the way we travel could shape the

future

Self-driving cars Other transport on Earth Driverless cars ponder who should die first Uber self-driving car kills US pedestrian Google takes giant leap in self-driving cars

Flying cars lift off in fight for the future Worldwide rocket travel is another mad idea Cynics ridicule Uber's plan for flying cars

Why driverless cars will be the end of an era Briefing: self-driving-cars Google car crash casts doubt on robot powers

Google secretly tests electric flying taxis

The Hyperloop

Space travel

World's most powerful rocket set for lift off Two tourists to fly around the moon in 2018 Race to make Moon Earth's eighth continent Sputnik is 60 as new space race beckons Take asteroid threat seriously say scientists Meet Space Force, Trump's new military branch

Moon or Mars: choosing humanity's new home The new satellite: on the hunt for alien planets First luxury space hotel due to open in 2022 The bright red car drifting through space All aboard the new mission to the moon The real truth about daily life in Outer Space What life on Mars might really be like? Liquid water found on Mars India joins space elite with mission to Mars Chinese robot lands on the Moon Two tourists to fly around the Moon in 2018

Alien life (as a consequence of Space exploration)

America's secret UFO research unit revealed Not that far: a planet where life is likely How to talk to aliens without being killed

Alien hunting telescope runs out of fuel Weird space object could come from aliens The new planet that could support alien life Seven beautiful earth sized planets found Exomars blasts off in search of alien life

1. The Day “Index” page must be open before some links will take you directly to the article. If a link

does not take you to the article you expect, leave the web browser open and click the link again.

2. Do not read all the articles – choose a few. Start with the articles from The Day but if you find

these difficult, the articles from The Day Explorer are designed to be shorter and easier to read.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 4

2. The Stuff of Life: How technological developments in the way we understand and modify

living things could shape the future

Human genetic modification

Fear and celebration at first edited embryo Landmark UK vote approves three person babies Moral storm as designer babies get green light The future: godlike elites and useless masses

Scientists cure diseases before birth

Plant and animal genetic modification

Fears over genetically modified super fish Trade secrets: bananageddon How gene editing could destroy world's pests Purple mutant tomatoes headed for UK shops

Mammoths one step closer to re-birth

Other genetic technologies

Gene scientists in secret talks on replicants How to find out your entire genetic make-up How technology is shaping the future of love

Scientists transplant memories into snails Genetics dream: Personalised medicine for everyone Introducing the world's first monkey clones

Human technological modification (cyborgs)

How science is transforming entertainment Brains bionics and the future of bodies The plan to merge human brains with computers

1. The Day “Index” page must be open before some links will take you directly to the article. If a link

does not take you to the article you expect, leave the web browser open and click the link again.

2. Do not read all the articles – choose a few. Start with the articles from The Day but if you find

these difficult, the articles from The Day Explorer are designed to be shorter and easier to read.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 5

3. The Robots are Coming: How technological developments in Artificial Intelligence and robotics could

shape the future

Robots and AI at work

Get ready for a fourth industrial revolution Happy birthday NHS. Now bring on the robots 2017 in review: The year the robots got smart How machines will revolutionise the workplace How robots will run the schools of the future Facebook robots spark new panic over AI

Now even our pets could be robots too Your new robot puppy Chinese robot passes national medical exams How machines will revolutionise the workplace Robocops fuel fears of machines eating jobs The age of robot chefs

Rights for robots

The curious ethics of cruelty to robots Robots are electronic persons says EU

Star wars and the quest for robot rights

Robots and AI at home

Amazon promises to fix Alexa's creepy laugh The friendly chatbot that mimics your voice Google unveils next steps in AI Technology How relying on computers leads to disaster How technology is shaping the future of love

How robots could take over your home Invasion of the home help robots Are computers getting too clever?

Robots and AI at war

Terminate scientists vow to block killer bots Threat of killer robots imminent warns Musk Armchair assassins enter ethical minefield

1. The Day “Index” page must be open before some links will take you directly to the article. If a link

does not take you to the article you expect, leave the web browser open and click the link again.

2. Do not read all the articles – choose a few. Start with the articles from The Day but if you find

these difficult, the articles from The Day Explorer are designed to be shorter and easier to read.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 6

Finding information | Working with information

Source: Book Website Magazine Other: ________________

Author: The Day News & Media Ltd (Corporate Author) __ Title of article: _____________________________________________________________

Date Published: ________________________________________ Name of Website: The Day / The Day Explorer (delete as appropriate) _____________

URL: _____________________________________________________________________

What information have I found?

You can either copy out the information word for word (quote it), making sure

you use quotation marks (“…”), or write it in your own words (paraphrase).

What ideas does this information give me for my imaginary world?

Make some suggestions for an imaginary world in the future, based on the

ideas in the article from our world today.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 7

Source: Book Website Magazine Other: ________________

Author: The Day News & Media Ltd (Corporate Author) __ Title of article: _____________________________________________________________

Date Published: ________________________________________ Name of Website: The Day / The Day Explorer (delete as appropriate) _____________

URL: _____________________________________________________________________

What information have I found?

You can either copy out the information word for word (quote it), making sure

you use quotation marks (“…”), or write it in your own words (paraphrase).

What ideas does this information give me for my imaginary world?

Make some suggestions for an imaginary world in the future, based on the

ideas in the article from our world today.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 8

Source: Book Website Magazine Other: ________________

Author: The Day News & Media Ltd (Corporate Author) __ Title of article: _____________________________________________________________

Date Published: ________________________________________ Name of Website: The Day / The Day Explorer (delete as appropriate) _____________

URL: _____________________________________________________________________

What information have I found?

You can either copy out the information word for word (quote it), making sure

you use quotation marks (“…”), or write it in your own words (paraphrase).

What ideas does this information give me for my imaginary world?

Make some suggestions for an imaginary world in the future, based on the

ideas in the article from our world today.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 9

Source: Book Website Magazine Other: ________________

Author: The Day News & Media Ltd (Corporate Author) __ Title of article: _____________________________________________________________

Date Published: ________________________________________ Name of Website: The Day / The Day Explorer (delete as appropriate) _____________

URL: _____________________________________________________________________

What information have I found?

You can either copy out the information word for word (quote it), making sure

you use quotation marks (“…”), or write it in your own words (paraphrase).

What ideas does this information give me for my imaginary world?

Make some suggestions for an imaginary world in the future, based on the

ideas in the article from our world today.

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 10

Constructing my toolkit: literary techniques

Language: How did the authors build tension through their choice of words? Give examples.

Think about: about the particular words and phrases they chose, and also how they worked together.

Tool Example from an opening you have studied (which book?)

e.g. simile “It felt as if her heart would burst.” (Floodland)

Structure: How did the authors build tension through the structure of their opening? Give examples.

Think about: what the author did and didn’t tell you (and when), the sentence structure (short? long?

dialogue?), why they chose to start their story at that point and whose perspective the story was told from.

Tool Example from an opening you have studied (which book?)

e.g. Leaving out

important information

“This is the day of the reaping”. Doesn’t explain

what “ the reaping” is until much later. (The

Hunger Games)

If you were going to build a house you would put together a toolkit first – now you are going to use

the work you have done this term to put together a ‘literary toolkit’ to help you to write your

Science Fiction opening.

Think about the work you have done on Science Fiction novels. Use your class notes to help you.

Now that you have your tools – it’s time to go on to construct your world!

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 11

Constructing my world

Your task will be to write the opening for a Science Fiction story. To do this well, you will need to have a clear picture of the world you are setting the story in.

In what ways has technology made my fictional world different from our world today?

Today In my fictional world

What does my world look like?

Where is my story set? (try to use somewhere you know – the best fiction comes from prior knowledge. Think about the postcard you wrote…)

When is my story set? (past or future? How far in the future?)

Who is there? (characters)

List things that characters might see, hear, touch, smell or taste that signal to the reader that the world is different. Think about the adjectives you might use.

Name Class Date

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 12

Redrafting: Using the techniques we have learnt this term in my writing

Name of person who wrote the opening: _______________________________________________

Name of person commenting on the opening: ___________________________________________

Literary techniques: (to be completed by the person commenting on the opening)

Short sentence

Creating tension and suspense

Dystopian language Active verbs

Hint at the world being a frightening or unsettling place

Challenge box: Figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification etc.)

General comments: (to be completed by the person commenting on the opening)

I thought this worked really well in your first draft….

I think your next draft would be even better if…

Now give your comments back to the person who wrote the opening.

Now that you have written a first draft, work with a partner to improve it. Read each other’s

openings and try to find examples of the techniques you have been studying in them. You

may not be able to find an example for every box.

Name Class Date

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 13

Planning my next draft (to be completed by the person who wrote the opening)

What worked well in my first draft?

How can I make my second draft even better? (you may not have something for each heading. Give examples)

Things to add: (e.g. Use more adjectives, such as…)

Things to change: (e.g. Include some shorter sentences, for example…)

Things to take out: (e.g. Don’t tell the reader … so early in the story)

Ready to improve your work?

Use all the feedback you have been given to make the next draft even better.

Remember to save a copy of BOTH DRAFTS so your teacher can see what you have improved.

Name Class Date

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 14

Reflection on the Unit

Did connecting what might happen in my opening with the world I already know make it easier to imagine and describe?

☐Much easier ☐ A bit easier ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Did the questions my group wondered about before we started reading the articles give me ideas about what I wanted to look for in the articles?

☐ Lots of ideas ☐ Some ideas ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Did the articles I read during my investigation help to give me any ideas for my opening, and/or help me to imagine it more clearly?

☐Helped a lot ☐ Helped a bit ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Did the time I spent constructing my literary toolkit before I started to write help me to remember to use what I had learnt from other writers this term in my own writing?

☐ Helped a lot ☐ Helped a bit ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Did the time I spent constructing my world before I started to write make it easier to write my first draft?

☐Much easier ☐ A bit easier ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Did the feedback my partner gave me help me to make my second draft better than my first?

☐ Helped a lot ☐ Helped a bit ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Do you think working through the FOSIL Cycle helped you to write a better opening than if you had just written it in the first lesson?

☐ Helped a lot ☐ Helped a bit ☐ Made no difference

Explain and/or give an example

Turn over to reflect on your own learning…

FOSIL: Learning by finding out for yourself. 15

Reflection on my learning

What went well?

What could I do even better next time?

What do you think?

You were asked to write an opening for a dystopian story but, given all you have read, do you think the future will be better or worse than the present (or a bit of both)? Why?

Things to think about:

• the opening I produced (What was good about it? What could I do even better next time?)

• the work I did to produce it (Did I make good use of my time? What might I do differently next time?)

• what I think I learnt from this Inquiry that might help me in the future.